{"id":1868,"date":"2022-07-03T16:58:01","date_gmt":"2022-07-03T21:58:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/biblicalpath.com\/?p=1868"},"modified":"2022-07-03T16:58:01","modified_gmt":"2022-07-03T21:58:01","slug":"a-religion-or-a-relationship","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/biblicalpath.com\/index.php\/2022\/07\/03\/a-religion-or-a-relationship\/","title":{"rendered":"A Religion, or a Relationship?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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\u201cHaving the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart.<\/strong>\u201d
Ephesians 4:18 <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

A religious practice had so engrained itself into the Israelites\nduring the New Testament times that the people no longer realized they were to\nlook for their Messiah: for their hearts had become hardened. When Jesus came\nand died to set them free from their religious system, restoring the\nrelationship with God, they rejected Him. The religious Jews had their\nunderstanding darkened \u2013 they just did not get it. See this explained in the\nfollowing verse. \u201cHaving the understanding darkened, being alienated from\nthe life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness\nof their heart<\/strong>\u201d (Ephesians 4:18).\nBlindness <\/strong>means \u201ccallousness or hardness<\/em>.\u201d Paul was a\nPharisee, a part of that religious system. He had been instructed in the Old\nTestament, and declared that, \u201cafter\nthe most straitest sect of our religion I lived a Pharisee<\/strong>\u201d (Acts\n26:5). He not only knew the Old Testament Scriptures, but he lived by them. He\nwas very religious. However, when Jesus called him, Paul listened to, and\nobeyed, that call. It was then that Paul understood that he had been living in\ndarkness. He saw the Light, Jesus, and believed. He then had a great burden to\ntell the religious, Jewish people who were living in darkness and help them\nunderstand that Jesus was the only way to remove the \u201cblindness of their\nheart.\u201d Paul became a missionary in the New Testament times, wanting to declare\nthe truth of Jesus to those religious, Jewish people. When he entered a city,\nhe migrated toward the Jews and their Synagogues where he taught them Jesus\nfrom their Old Testament Scriptures. Some believed, but overall the Jewish\npeople rejected the message. So much so that many times these religious Jews\ntried to kill Paul. When Paul was rejected repeatedly, he declared that he\nwould take the Gospel message to the Gentiles \u201cBe it known therefore unto you, that the salvation of God is sent unto\nthe Gentiles, and that<\/em> they will hear it<\/strong>\u201d (Acts 28:28). There\nwas a dynamic shift. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Gentiles have predominately received the Gospel Message\nsince that time. However, one cannot help but recognize that today, not many\nGentile people are willing to receive the Gospel Message of Jesus. One can\nunderstand that there is a sort of darkness that has come upon the world as a\nreligious system of \u201cChristianity\u201d has taken precedence within the world today.\nMany who claim the name of \u201cChristian\u201d today have a religion<\/em><\/strong>, not\na relationship<\/em><\/strong> with Jesus Christ. Paul could see this happening\nin the newly established church in his day. \u201cHaving the understanding\ndarkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in\nthem, because of the blindness of their heart<\/strong>\u201d (Ephesians 4:18). Blindness\n<\/strong>means \u201ccallousness or hardness<\/em>.\u201d\nJust as the Jews had their religious system, many churches have established\ntheir own \u201creligious system.\u201d This leads to people believing in a \u201cchurch\u201d or\n\u201creligious acts\u201d (such as baptism, attending church, doing good deeds, loving\nothers, or a recognition of God, etc.). Above all, one must actually hear the\ncall of repentance of sin (repent<\/strong> means \u201cto think differently; a\nchange of mind demanding a change of action<\/em>\u201d), and then turn to Jesus who\nis the \u201cSalvation of God<\/strong>\u201d (Acts 28:28). One\u2019s heart must be enlightened\nby the Light, Jesus: \u201cThen spake\nJesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of\nthe world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the\nlight of life<\/strong>\u201d (John 8:12).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How can one\u2019sheart be enlightened today? \u201c8. But what saith it? The word\nis nigh thee, even<\/em> in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of\nfaith, which we preach; 9. That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord\nJesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead,\nthou shalt be saved. 10. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness;\nand with the mouth confession is made unto salvation<\/strong>\u201d (Romans 10:8-10). One\nmust have a personal, life-changing encounter with Jesus. Without Jesus, one\nhas a religion. A religion is a cheap copy of the real thing. It would be a\ntragedy for anyone to have attended church, followed the religious instructions\nof what to do to live as a \u201cChristian,\u201d yet to never really know what a true<\/em><\/strong>\nChristian life is. Paul recognized that many Jews in his day had a religion. He\nthen understood what Isaiah had written and quoted it. \u201c26. Saying, Go unto\nthis people, and say, Hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and\nseeing ye shall see, and not perceive: 27. For the heart of this people is\nwaxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes have they\nclosed; lest they should see with their<\/em> eyes, and hear with their<\/em>\nears, and understand with their<\/em> heart, and should be converted, and I\nshould heal them<\/strong>\u201d (Acts 28:26-27). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Have we come full circle? Do the people today hear, and not\nunderstand? Do they see, yet not perceive? Have the hearts of the people \u201cwaxed\ngross\u201d and become \u201cdull of hearing?\u201d Have the religious people in the churches\ntoday closed their eyes, lest they be converted? Why has this happened? \u201cIn whom the god of this world hath blinded\nthe minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of\nChrist, who is the image of God, should shine unto them<\/strong>\u201d (2\nCorinthians 4:4). Without a change of heart that receives Jesus, one cannot\nbecome a true Christian. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Do you have a\nreligion?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Or<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Have you believed in your heart unto righteousness, confessing Jesus, establishing a relationship?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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How to be Saved<\/a><\/blockquote>